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Amphitheatre at Delphi

Spiritual, Mystical & Sacred Places

Delphi

Delphic Oracle

Delphi is built on a slope of 900 foot cliffs, which are known as ‘the shining ones’ as during sunrise and sunset the cliffs would become alive and on fire with an incandescent light. This really set the ambience of Delphi and made it befitting of any god. Large olive trees flowed round the base of the setting, and the area was prone to magnificent thunderstorms and electrical surges. This may be why Delphi was home to many stories of ancient Gods and Goddesses. It is said that Zeus released two eagles at opposite ends of the earth so the centre of the world would be known by the place that they met. The conical stone at Delphi now marks this very spot; Delphi’s Omphalos.

In the beginning, Delphi was dedicated to Gaia the earth Goddess, and her shrine Pytho was alleged to have been guarded by a giant snake, until Apollo; who was the god of light, reason and civilised art; came to the mountain to slay the earth goddess and the python there and decree it a place of his. He then placed his own priestess Pythia there in the snake’s stead, and Delphi went on to become the seat of the most famous and well known oracle of our ancient time, the Delphic Oracle and the holiest and most prestigious place in Greece.

Apollos Temple at Delphi

Until the Delphic oracles demise in the 4th century AD, people such as kings and queens used to come from all across the globe to the Delphi and questioned Apollo through his priestess. The priestess would go into a deep trance and speak in tongue when relaying a response to a question, and this would then be interpreted by one of the temple priests and the answer relayed back to the person. The only trouble with the oracle, is that although recorded cases were accurate enough, the information given could be quite vague at times.

Delphic Oracle Temple Priests at Delphi

By the end of the 7th century, Apollo’s oracle had grown in reputation and appealed to the masses, so Delphi was surrounded with marble buildings and monuments, gold animals and bronze figures, to pay homage to the mighty Apollo and to appease the God and his priestesses.

The last ever recorded oracle was given in approximately 360AD in response to the Emperor Julian the Apostate of Rome. Shortly after this Christianity flooded into Greece and Theodosius the Christian emperor abolished the Delphi oracle believing that his God was of a more spiritual light, and Apollo was to be worshiped at this site no more.

After having a hard past of fires, earthquakes and being rebuilt, Delphi finally ran to ruin until eventually becoming buried among earth and time. A village settled on the ancient site, and it was not till about 1892 that an archaeological team finally found the proof beyond doubt that this was the famous spiritual centre of the world. Once it was discovered, Delphi once again became a spiritual centre where people would travel the world to soak in it’s ambience and aura, plays would be performed by local actors and artists, and homage would be paid to the stories of old in the ruins of the ancient temple.

Although once being home to the Earth Goddess, and sabotaged by Christian influence, The Delphi ruins will still always be associated with Apollo and his extraordinary Oracle.